Water covers 71 of the Earth's surface.[1 It is vital for all known forms of life. On Earth, 96.5 of the planet's crust water is found in seas and oceans, 1.7 in groundwater, 1.7 in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a puny fraction in other large water figures, and 0.001 in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of ice and liquid water suspended in air), and precipitation.[2][3 Only 2.5 of this water is freshwater, and 98.8 of that water is in ice (excepting ice in clouds